In the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we see recorded the final words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven, beginning in V. 46, “And He said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; (V. 47) and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” As we were reading that today, something jumped out at us. It’s not like we didn’t know this before, but it was an even deeper revelation than before.
The truth is that we simply cannot be forgiven without first repenting.
It seems today that many who evangelize ask people, “Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins?” “Yes,” they say. And then they proceed to lead them through a formula prayer confessing that they believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. At the end, they are told they are saved and on their way to heaven. Wait a minute! Were they given time and space to repent for their sins in their own words? Did the Holy Spirit bring conviction?
Is it possible that because it is uncomfortable for us to wait for them to confess their sins and truly repent from the heart, we just slough it off and don’t even mention it? Or did we forget that it is a vital part of the process of salvation?
Let’s look at Luke 24:47 in the Amplified Bible:
“And that repentance [with a view to and as the condition of] forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Our salvation is conditional on our repenting!
It is clear here that forgiveness does not take place until and unless a person repents from the heart. And unless a person is truly “born again” and comes into the kingdom of God in this way, he or she does not enter into “this grace in which we stand” that Paul refers to in Rom. 5:2. Why is that significant? Because without His grace we simply cannot overcome the power of sin in our lives! Consequently, many struggle in their walk with the Lord. Perhaps it’s because they were never actually born again to begin with, but we assured them that they were.
We must take time when witnessing to people to allow the Holy Spirit to bring that gentle conviction that brings a person into a place of true repentance. Many who have come to us over the past several years for ministry have told us they were never led through repentance when they “supposedly” got saved. Therefore, they needed deliverance, but they, first of all, needed to repent. They needed to know what the Word of God teaches us about what is required to be born again.
John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, according to Mark 1:4. Jesus also preached repentance (Matt. 4:17 AMP), “From that time Jesus began to preach, crying out, ‘Repent (change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins) for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” On the Day of Pentecost, Peter boldly preached his first message with conviction, saying, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That message is consistent throughout the New Testament.
Could this lack of emphasis on repentance in recent times possibly be why there’s so much worldliness in the church today? Imagine how many people have been brought into the kingdom in modern times under the guise that they are “saved,” but were never told they needed to repent. The numbers would probably be staggering. The last great harvest of souls is upon us. But there are some things the Holy Spirit wants us to correct―even at this late hour.